I walked through the chilly tunnels under Volterra, carefully sheltering my mind from detection or infiltration. I didn't want anyone knowing of my closeness just yet. There would be time enough for that.

I hadn't seen the Three for decades. That expanse of time was mostly spent planning this visit. I reveled at the familiar smells wafting through the tunnels. The sameness of the tunnels almost broke down the carefully structured walls of my mind, but no. I would not be taken advantage of as I had before. I had grown above that.

I was too close now, so I carefully opened my mind for detection and felt, almost instantly, the 'fingers' clawing at my memories, my ideas, my feelings. Just that mind-tracker, for he left them untouched. Unlike what Aro would do. I shuddered. I could never get rid of the memory of what it had felt like when his hand had taken mine. His mind's 'fingers' quickly clawing, ripping, tearing. They had seemed almost desperate as they tore through all the memories... everything. Nothing could compare to that torture. Nothing I had yet encountered.

I approached the desk with the human standing there, staring down at my boy-ish form in shock.

No. Not me... my eyes.

Ah, yes. I had almost forgotten about my eyes. They were not the blood-red of those who drank of human blood. Nor were the golden topaz of the animal-drinkers, for that was not my prey. No, I had found something that could sustain me with minimal murder on my part. My irises were white, their circumference black. The rest of my eye was normal for any creature. It was just the excess of white that startled people.

Suddenly, a shape appeared next to the girl. A vampire, male, and no doubt the one who had sensed my mind wandering through the caves of the Three. He looked at me and made a gestured to follow him. I went without hesitation.

He led me into a tower with three thrones on one side. Their inhabitants looking dismal. Well, two of them anyway. Aro looked as cheerful as ever and I could see his fingers itching to see what I had been up to. Marcus looked as though he was slightly amused. Caius had no expression. The Three stared at me.

Aro was the first to speak.

"Colin!" he jumped out of his seat and rushed over to me, I prepared myself. "It's been too long! We've missed you so! You were one of our first transformations and one of the best," he grabbed my hand. It took all my energy to keep from throwing a barrier around the entirety of my mind. I fell to my knees in pain as his mind's 'fingers' flipped through my memories.. He released me and backed away, unsure of what to do. I stood without speaking. Looking on with no emotion.

"What brings you here, child?" Caius spoke his face still blank. I paused to gather myself and looked around before answering. Mistake. My eyes met with the black eyes of a girl who looked not three years younger than me, by human standards. I could not release myself from those eyes.

"Jane, leave him be," Marcus said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "You'll have time to discuss whatever you'd like with Colin when he has told us what it is he's here for."

"He's here to ask for service," everyone turned to stare at Aro as he returned to his seat.

I had regained my self-control.

"My lords," I said turning to them with urgency, "Forgive me, my lords, for leaving you before. You were kind to have taken me in my lowly state of being and young age and I left you without a trace or reason," I put on a truly melancholy face, "I have regretted my decision for many years but never had the courage to return, the coward that I am," I glided quickly forward and bent to one knee, my head bowed, "Please forgive my selfish and ignorant behavior. Allow me back into your midst, my lords, please," I dared not looks up, "Please," I pleaded.

How Aro would have loved to have known my plan to destroy them. He would have thought it brilliant, amusingly so. I had calculated all that was possible to happen in this meeting and had found a way to escape from each possibility. My words, expression, and thoughts had all been figured and weighed. There was no way for them to catch me. No way for them to know. None at all.

They were silent, brooding on what a suitable punishment for this runaway would be. I grinned in their ignorance of my plan, but quickly stifled the emotion.

"Jane," Aro said, "I believe this boy needs to be taught a lesson," boy indeed. I looked up with a fake fear as the girl that had enthralled me seconds before stepped forward and locked me with her gaze. I felt an odd sensation, as though someone was trying to activate a part of my mind that I had left open. I furrowed my brow as her gaze continued to tamper with it, like someone turning the key in the ignition of an old car that was refusing to start. Then it did.

My body felt as though it were splitting in two. My skin burned with a freezing heat, my stomach was being twisted in half, my silent heart was squeezed. I couldn't breath. I cried out with in pain as the torture of her gazed struck me to the ground. I closed my mind. I rejected any infiltration. I withdrew into myself. If I had been human, I would have blacked out, but I was not afforded that luxury. I remained in my conscious mind. When I found the power to stand I faced the girl as she struggled to breech the walls I had placed around my mind.

I felt an overwhelming anger at her ability to destroy my body's defenses so easily. I grabbed the 'fingers' trying to twist my mind against itself and watched her surprise as I dragged them into my mind and held them there. Then, I used her connection against her. I smirked as she fell to the ground with her own pain, but quickly released her from my hold. I had only wanted to shock her into leaving me be.

It worked.

She cowered on the floor for a second before scurrying back to her place. I wasn't smiling anymore. She had had a look worse than fear plastered on that beautiful, innocent face. I was becoming the monster everyone thought I was. I would not be like that. A slow clapping came from one of the thrones. I looked at Caius in a way that would scare any lesser to the point of insanity.

"You know, Aro," I said allowing my eyes to focus on him, "I have changed my mind. I'd rather not serve you as I did before, but I do leave with a promise," I lowered my gaze with a little smirk, "You will hear nothing of me again."

I turned and left, surprised that no one tried to stop me. As soon as I passed through the archway with the human underneath I slammed shut the gates of my mind. No one would find me now.

But I couldn't get the image of that girl's face as it stared at me in horror before she fell with her own pain. It lingered in my mind, haunting me. I decided I had to do something. Something to fix what I'd wounded. I could not bear to be seen as a monster by anyone. Especially her.